CSC 3250 Topic 5: Freedom of Speech in Cyberspace 1

A Gift of Fire
Freedom of Speech In Cyberspace
Changing Communications Paradigms
Offensive Speech and Censorship in Cyberspace
Anonymity
Spam
Ensuring Valuable and Diverse Content
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Changing Communications Paradigms
Regulatory Paradigms
Internet, BBSs,
commercial online
services, and the WWW:
Not exactly print media.
Not exactly broadcast media.
Not exactly common carrier.
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Changing Communications Paradigms
The First Amendment
Protects Citizens From
Government
Prohibits restriction of speech,
press, peaceful assembly, and
religion.
Subsequent Interpretations
Address:
Offensive (tidak sopan)
and/or controversial speech
and ideas,
Spoken and written words,
Pictures, art, and other forms
of expression and opinion, and
Commercial speech (e.g.
advertising).
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Offensive Speech and
Censorship in Cyberspace
Speech Might Include:
Political or religious speech.
Pornography.
Sexual or racial slurs.
Nazi materials.
Libelous (pencemaran nama baik) statements.
Abortion information.
Alcohol ads.
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Offensive Speech and
Censorship in Cyberspace
Miller v. California
Material is considered obscene
(cabul) if all three parts are met:
1. It depicts sexual acts whose depiction
(penggambaran) is specifically
prohibited by state law, and
2. It depicts these acts in a patently
offensive (tidak sopan, menjijikkan)
manner, appealing to the prurient
(birahi) interest as judged by a
reasonable person using community
standards, and
3. It has no serious literary, artistic,
social, political, or scientific value.
Obscene
(Cabul)
Not Obscene
(! Cabul)
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Not Obscene
(tidak Cabul) ??
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Obscene
(Cabul)
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Offensive Speech and
Censorship in Cyberspace
Material Inappropriate for Children
Technology Changes the Context
On the Web, children have access to the
same adult text, images, videos, etc. as
adults.
Online proprietors dont know the customer is
not an adult.
Protecting Children
Regardless of the medium:
It is illegal to create, possess or distribute
child pornography.
It is illegal to lure children into sexual
activity.
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Offensive Speech and
Censorship in Cyberspace
Censorship Laws
Communications Decency Act (CDA,
1996)
Publicity and public pressure lead
Congress to pass this act.
Anyone who made available to anyone
under 18 any communication that is
obscene (cabul) or indecent (tidak
senonoh) would be subject to a
$100,000 fine and two years in prison.
In 1997, the CDA was ruled
unconstitutional because it was too
vague and too broad in protecting
children online and because less
restrictive means are available.
CSC 3250 Topic 5: Freedom of Speech in Cyberspace 10
Offensive Speech and
Censorship in Cyberspace
Censorship Laws (contd)
Child Online Protection Act (COPA,
1998)
Commercial Web sites that make
available to minors materials harmful
to minors, as judged by community
standards would be subject to a
$50,000 fine and six months in jail.
In 2000 and 2003, COPA was ruled
unconstitutional by a federal court.
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Offensive Speech and
Censorship in Cyberspace
Censorship Laws (contd)
Childrens Internet Protection Act
(CIPA)
Any school or library receiving federal
Internet funds must install filtering
software on all Internet terminals.
Filters must block sites containing
child pornography, obscene material,
and any material deemed harmful to
minors.
A federal appeals court ruled a major
part of CIPA unconstitutional in
2002 but the Supreme Court
upheld the law in 2003.
CSC 3250 Topic 5: Freedom of Speech in Cyberspace 12
Offensive Speech and
Censorship in Cyberspace
Limiting Internet Access in Libraries and
Schools
Filtering Software
Benefit: prevent access to inappropriate material on the Internet by
screening words or phrases, blocking sites according to rating system,
or disallowing access to specific sites in a list.
Problems: can be ineffectivekids get around the filters; the words,
phrases, rating systems, etc. are subjective; banned keywords can be
overly restrictive for adult users and for legitimate use by minors.
CSC 3250 Topic 5: Freedom of Speech in Cyberspace 13
Offensive Speech and
Censorship in Cyberspace
Challenging Old Regulatory Paradigms and
Special Interests
License required:
To practice law.
To publish traditional newsletters about commodities and futures
investing (prior to 2000).
No license required:
To create downloadable, self-help legal software.
To publish newsletters about, developing software for, and operating
Web sites concerning commodities and futures investing (since 2000).
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Offensive Speech and
Censorship in Cyberspace
Censorship On the Global Net
Global Impact
Avoiding censorship: the global nature of the Net allows restrictions (or
barriers) in one country to be circumvented by using networks in other,
less restrictive countries.
Creating censorship: the global nature of the Net makes it easier for
one nation to impose restrictive standards on others.
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Anonymity
Common Sense and the Internet
Early publications by some of our Founding Fathers were published
under pseudonyms.
Today, there are publications on the Net that are posted anonymously.
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Anonymity
Is Anonymity Protected?
Conflicts between political freedom of speech and campaign
regulations:
Anonymity protects against retaliation and embarrassment.
Anonymity violates rules established by the Federal Elections
Commission (FEC)
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Anonymity
Anonymity vs. Community
Supporters of anonymity:
Say it is necessary to protect privacy and free speech.
Opponents of anonymity:
Believe it is anti-social and allows criminals to hide from law
enforcement.
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Spam
What Is the Problem?
Unsolicited, mass e-mail:
is cheap to senders but may impose costs on
the recipients time and/or the recipients online
account.
may contain objectionable content (political,
commercial ads, solicitations for funds,
pornography, etc.).
may contain a disguised (penyembunyian)
return address.
may pass through filters.
invades privacy.
creates a financial and managerial burden
(beban) on ISPs.
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Spam
Solutions
Technology: filters that screen out spam.
Market Pressure: services that list spammers.
Business Policy: at the discretion
(kebijaksanaan, keleluasaan) of the recipient,
all e-mail would be charged a microfee.
Law: create restrictions that are consistent
with the First Amendment.
Vigilantism (sukarelawan?): punish spammers
by hacking into their phone or computer
systems.
Q: Which solution above, or others, do you support?
CSC 3250 Topic 5: Freedom of Speech in Cyberspace 21
Ensuring Valuable and
Diverse Content
Points to Consider:
Is there a balance between commercial and educational information on
the Web?
Should diverse content on the Web be subsidized with taxes?
Should valuable content on the Web be regulated?
Do we need to ensure the existence of sites containing civic
information?
Are more sites that promote the arts and culture needed?